{"id":442399,"date":"2026-02-01T07:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/442399\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T07:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:37:22","slug":"nurses-dig-into-rainy-day-funds-to-keep-kaiser-strike-going-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/442399\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurses dig into rainy day funds to keep Kaiser strike going \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Striking nurses at Kaiser Permanente wrapped up their first week of picketing<\/a> on Friday \u2014 tired but still energized as they wait for a second wave of workers to join them in February.<\/p>\n

Sarah Rubino, a registered nurse who works at Kaiser\u2019s Irvine Medical Center, joined about 150 others on the picket line at the corner of Sand Canyon Avenue and Alton Parkway. Amid the megaphone chants and horns honking from supporters, she said she\u2019s prepared for another week with some help from her rainy day fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began working extra hours after the last strike, taking extra shifts to cover shortages in our postpartum unit,\u201d said Rubino of last October\u2019s walkout. She has a 7-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. \u201cChristmas was less that year. It looked different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union of 31,000 registered nurses and health professionals doesn\u2019t have a strike fund to keep them going forever, so nurses are tapping their savings, cutting back on extras, like dining out, or going down to one car in a household for commuting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our health care professionals have been working extra or picking up part-time jobs just so that we can get a fair contract,\u201d said Rubino.<\/p>\n

Alice Hunter, a 62-year-old nurse who works in the virtual medical center at Kaiser\u2019s Anaheim Medical Center, has a rainy day fund of $5,000. She also helps support her 28-year-old son, who\u2019s attending Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and just began courses to become a nurse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just watching my budget and groceries. I\u2019ve cut back with inflation,\u201d said Hunter,\u00a0a Rancho Santa Margarita resident.<\/p>\n

The strike by members of the United Nurses Association of California\/Union of Health Care Professionals union started Monday, Jan. 26, and is open-ended, keeping 31,000 registered nurses and staff in California and Hawaii off their jobs until the health care giant and the union alliance reach a tentative contract agreement.<\/p>\n

The two sides are negotiating to replace a five-year contract that expired Sept. 30. The union is seeking higher wages and benefits, plus more hiring to fill staffing shortages. It initially sought a 38% pay hike over four years and is now seeking a 25% raise.<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Chrissy<\/p>\n

Chrissy Nguyen, RN, protests with others at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

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1 of 4<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

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Kaiser said in a statement Friday that it \u201cstands with nurses and patients during union strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur contract proposal is the strongest compensation package in Kaiser Permanente\u2019s national bargaining history and keeps employees among the best-paid caregivers in the country,\u201d said Camille Applin-Jones, senior vice president for Kaiser Permanente Southern California. \u201cThe total pay increase we are offering, including step increases, amounts to roughly 30% over the length of the contract, not including proposed benefits enhancements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last October\u2019s five-day strike, the largest ever for Kaiser unions, began with the health care giant flying in thousands of replacement staff from around the country to fill critical patient care jobs. Pay for those temporary workers ranged from $78-$130 an hour based on the job requirements, according to interviews with nurses who said they were retained by AMN Healthcare Services Inc., a Dallas-based temporary strike staffing company.<\/p>\n

Kaiser has declined to discuss staffing issues in this latest work stoppage.<\/p>\n

Changes coming to California<\/p>\n

Regardless of how the strike turns out, Laurel Lucia, deputy executive director for the Labor Center at UC Berkeley, said the health care industry in California is staring at considerable changes to its business landscape.<\/p>\n

\"LaurelLaurel Lucia, deputy executive director of programs at the University of California, Berkeley\u2019s Labor Center. (Courtesy of UC Berkeley, Labor Center)<\/p>\n

A year ago, she published a report<\/a> looking at possible cuts in Medi-Cal funding in 2026 \u2014 a prediction that ultimately came to pass with the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. That legislation cut Medi-Ca l\u2014 California\u2019s Medicaid program \u2014 providing free or low-cost comprehensive coverage to low-income residents, including families, children, seniors and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Before the bill was made law, Lucia expected a loss of $10 billion to $20 billion in federal Medi-Cal funding to California \u2014 an action that she said in an interview with the Southern California News Group would hurt Kaiser financially.<\/p>\n

Also see: Pomona Valley Hospital plans 265 job cuts<\/a><\/p>\n

Of Kaiser\u2019s 9.5 million members in California, the health care provider has 1.1 million Medi-Cal members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese federal cuts not only threaten health care access for many of the nearly 15 million \u2014 or one out of three Californians currently enrolled \u2014 they also lead to significant job loss in health care and other sectors, given that health care is a key part of California\u2019s economy, and Medi-Cal is a key pillar in California\u2019s health care system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She estimated a loss of between 109,000 and 217,000 jobs in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is already a problem with sufficient staffing, and will that get worse if workers don\u2019t have the wages and benefits they need to provide for their families?\u201d Lucia wondered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to predict how long the strike will last, but it\u2019s clear that every day the strike continues, Kaiser will pay financially, and they will be taking that into account,\u201d she said. \u201cI also think that the longer the strike goes, the more reputational risks there are for Kaiser, because nurses and other healthcare workers are deeply valued by patients, and a strike, especially a long strike, clearly signals that they\u2019re not getting what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second wave<\/p>\n

The second wave of strikes against Kaiser is beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 pharmacy and lab workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Southern California<\/a> said Thursday that they would join the strike beginning Feb. 9 \u2014 unless an accord is reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a broken health care system for a long, long time,\u201d said Kathy Finn, president of UFCW Local 770, which represents parts of Los Angeles, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. \u201cThey call themselves a nonprofit, but their goal, just like any other huge corporation, is to bring in a lot of money and premiums and then scrimp on what they give out in care. They don\u2019t act any different from any other big corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also see: Kaiser laying off 216 workers, deepening tensions amid nurses\u2019 labor talks<\/a><\/p>\n

Until the strike is settled, union nurses with Kaiser will cut back on spending as they venture into week two.<\/p>\n

Gerard Corros, president of the Kaiser Orange County Professional Association, who\u2019s overseeing the interests of 2,800 nurses and others at the bargaining table, plans to park his gas-guzzling pickup truck at home and drive his fuel-efficient Honda Accord instead.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll do penny-pinching where he can, but rely on his disability pension as a Marine veteran who deployed to Iraq in 2009, and his wife\u2019s income as an underwriting manager at a local credit union.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re cutting out restaurants,\u201d said Corros, who is in the strike for the long haul. \u201cWe have decided that they are making priorities in profits over patients in the commmunity that we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alice<\/p>\n

Alice Hunter, RN , protests with others at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman protests with others at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A passing motorist gives the thumbs up to protesters at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers protest at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Alice Hunter, RN , protests with others at Kaiser Permanente on Alton Pkwy. in Irvine, CA on Friday, January 30, 2026. Protesters have been on the picket lines for a week during the open-ended strike by 31,000 nurses and healthcare professionals. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

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